A Validation Study of Teachers’ Responses to Bullying Questionnaire (TRBQ–T) in Two Large Samples of Teachers

Abstract

There is a growing interest in teachers’ responses to bullying and their impact on student behavior and well-being. This study aimed to adapt the Teachers’ Responses to Bullying Questionnaire (TRBQ), originally based on students’ reports, to capture teachers’ perspectives (TRBQ-T), and to test its theoretical structure and measurement invariance across school level and gender in two samples of teachers. Study 1 involved 42,939 Italian teachers (85.1% females; Mage = 50.9; SDage = 8.84) and was used to test the factor structure (i.e., EFA, CFA), internal consistency, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and measurement invariance (both at the school and gender levels). Study 2 included 47,118 Italian teachers (84.9% females; Mage = 50.3; SDage = 9.3) and was used to replicate Study 1, which results the validity and reliability of TRBQ-T in assessing teachers’ responses to bullying across four factors: Disciplinary Methods, Victim Support, Group Discussion, and Mediation. The “Non-intervention” factor was not supported. Full strict invariance was achieved across gender and school level, with partial invariance in covariances and factor means across school level. Findings support the TRBQ-T as a robust instrument for capturing teachers’ self-reported strategies to address bullying